Oral Reports
Oral reports will be twenty-five minutes long (20 minutes plus 5
minutes for questions). Prepared overhead transparencies are
recommended, but any delivery format is acceptable (provided the
result is a good talk!) The talk should describe your
group's modeling effort, not just your contribution.
Include: a brief overview of the problem, relevant
background material, assumptions, a description of the model,
the strengths and weaknesses of your
model, mathematical and numerical results, comparison with
real-world observations (if possible), conclusions and
possibilities for improving the model.
General Hints. The talk should be addressed to a competent, but nonspecialist audience. If subtle mathematical issues are important, try to present them in a clear, nontechnical manner. Practice the talk before giving it in class. Seek suggestions for improvement from other members of your group, but remember it is your talk.
Grades:
Clarity (40%).
Was the talk comprehensible, convincing, interesting?
Content (30%).
Was the talk prepared well, logically organized with carefully selected
material, no extraneous details, and no important exclusions?
Correctness (30%). Was all material factually correct?
Written Reports
There is a page limit of fourteen pages, including figures and references. This is an upper bound, not a target. Reports should provide a comprehensive summary of your group's modeling activity. The report format is open, but should include:
1. A title page listing the project title,
group number, and your name,
2. A Summary (or Abstract). A concise (no more than
one-half page) description of the problem, your model, main results
and conclusions.
3. Carefully organized and well-written material grouped into
sections, with appropriate references to the literature.
Include background material, assumptions, description of
your model, strengths and weaknesses, computational or
analytical results, etc.
The use of TeX or LaTeX for text formatting is encouraged. Well-designed html documents containing text, links to simulations, figures, reference material, etc., are also acceptable. Reports may be submitted electronically.
General Hints. The report should be written for a competent, but nonspecialist audience. Mathematical excursions should contribute to, rather than detract from, the flow of the report. If technical arguments are necessary, they can be placed in an appendix. A few well designed figures are often extremely useful in conveying infomation. Don't try to "pad" the report with extra material to reach the page limit--short, clearly written reports will be viewed more favorably than long, murky reports. Have other members of your group read a draft copy of your report and offer suggestions. But as with the talk, the content is up to you.
Grades:
Clarity (40%).
Was the report comprehensible, well-written, convincing, interesting?
Content (30%).
Was the report prepared well, logically organized with carefully selected
material, no extraneous details, and no important exclusions?
Correctness (30%). Was all material factually correct?
Peer Evaluations
Your goal as a team member is to contribute to the progress of your group as best you can. Your contributions to the group will be evaluated by other group members via peer evaluation forms. You will also have the opportunity to describe your own contribution to each project. Everyone who contributes to a project equitably will receive full credit for that project. Results from the peer evaluations will be combined over all four projects to arrive at a final score for each individual at the end of the semester. Only the final score will be reported to you.
General Hints.
It is natural in most groups for some kind of leadership structure
to evolve. Some group members may have more experience
with a particular kind of problem than others. Your particular
role in the group is less important
than your participation. You should make an
effort to participate, cooperate, contribute, and include all other
group members in the development of the project.
Project Grades
Each group's overall modeling effort will be graded. This "group grade" will be based on information drawn from the written report, the oral report, and monitoring the progress of each group over the course of the project. I will attempt to evaluate the success of the projects more or less independently of how well the individual reports are done. But of course my understanding of the project will be partly shaped by the reports.General Hints. Grades will be partly based upon how well your group did relative to the other groups. So I would expect a little competition between groups, and I would not expect to see every group come up with exactly the same model. On the other hand, in some cases exchanges of information between groups may be beneficial to all. Use your best judgement.
Grades:
Background research (25%)
How thoroughly was the problem
investigated (background material, sources of
relevant data, justification of assumptions,
study of related models, etc.)?
Fidelity (25%) How well does the model capture or explain
the behavior of the real system in question?
Cost and aesthetics (25%)
Is the model clean and simple enough to
allow substantial
computational or analytical study?
Results and Conclusions (25%) Were you able to use your
model to obtain useful information about the
real system in question (and in particular, to
answer the original question)?